Wanting without expecting it to be a certain way certainly feels like a balancing act; want it too much and you become obsessed, want it too little but then nothing happens. That’s why they call spirituality a practice – something you have to constantly work on. The non-attachment part can get tricky.

There’s lots of things I should be doing for Metaphysical Vibes to achieve certain results but haven’t quite gotten around to doing, like YouTube videos. I’m also supposed to be blogging a lot more too; actually I’m supposed to be creating LOTS of content on a consistent basis. Not sure if I can do it all though. Some days I feel like I should be posting more on Instagram or do an auction or a sale like everybody else yadda yadda…

But it all seems exhausting. Most of the time I just end up doing nothing and I’m totally fine with that.

But I guess I am doing something, I’m typing my thoughts here and practicing my writing. And I’ve been playing with the image above.

So I have resolved to not compete with anyone and just go at my own pace, that’s what I’m doing.

Reminding myself that I’m not everybody else so why do I feel the need to do what everyone else is doing?

Success is different for everybody, and I feel that I am already successful. Now I just have to step it up and see how far I can go with the resources I have.

I feel pretty grateful that I’ve gotten this far and I know it can only get better from here.

I didn’t always consider myself a marketer…

ask me 6 years ago and I would’ve said “ugh”, “gross”, and “no fucking way”!!😷

As a matter of fact, I HATED it and didn’t want anything to do with it. I hated commercials or anyone who promoted themselves wayyyyy too much.

At one point I was forced to participate in meetings, meetings that had nothing to do with me. Most of the time I just ended up doodling or wandering off into the astral plane or both.☁️

So how did I go from hating marketing to loving it?

Easy, with repetition.

If you create graphics for advertising and promotions on a daily basis like I do, you start to realize that marketing is heavily involved in everything you do. It is not a separate thing, but a symbiotic relationship.

Why is that?

Because you’re thinking about ways to execute something visually when you’re combining text with images, then posting it to social media or getting it printed.

Not only that, but you’re also thinking about the best way to say it; your copy and your taglines. Small businesses might not have the luxury of having a copywriter, so it might fall on the designer or the owner to come up with something. Should it come straight from your creative & genius brain raw & unfiltered, or simplified so that others can actually understand your message and take action?

When you’re posting on social media – whether it’s a painting, something you cooked or baked, your writing, your designs, a video demonstrating what it is you do, etc…you’re showing off your skills through something you created and the potential to provide something of value to others.

All of that IS marketing.

And everyone who promotes something of theirs is actively doing it, whether they’re aware of it or not.

And going back to the concept of repetition – I finally understood that in order for people to know about you, you have to REPEAT yourself and constantly let people know about you.

Marketing has become part of my job due to the fact that workplaces have been shrinking for some time now. Most companies don’t want to hire and pay a person for marketing, and then another for SEO, and then another for web design, graphics, etc…

so without even having a clue that this would be my future, I started to learn how to do a little bit of everything and it has paid off. I’ve learned a lot and am still learning. And I don’t get bored.

But don’t think you have to do it my way; I only did it this way because it seems to work for me. I find that learning and focusing on one subject doesn’t work for me; it seems that halfway through I get bored and disinterested. And so I jump on to other things…

and another, and another.

and then I end up learning a little bit of everything.

Another reason why I know a little bit of everything?

Usually someone will ask me a question and even though I don’t know the answer, they’re kind of expecting me to have an answer or a solution. So I start to Google a bunch of shit just to know what it is they’re asking of me.

And now I just learned something else; I can add that to my knowledge bank and share it with someone who needs it.

I love this simple and well-designed infographic. I never get tired of seeing it – it’s just a really good reminder for me to keep at it with this blog, even if no one reads it. It’s good practice to blog or write – it exercises your brain, fleshes out ideas, makes you a better blogger/writer. I know my writing skills aren’t up there, but I’m doing my best.

It would be easier for me to fill up this blog with random images that I liked (like i used to in past versions), but now I’d rather stretch my mind by writing.

For helpful insights into marketing, social media, blogging and more – check out Mark Schaefer at: www.businessgrow.com

If you are feeling uninspired and aren’t finding the perfect image or background, use your own photos to create a flyer for your event or to promote your offerings & services. Everyday we are taking photos and posting it to our social media accounts; there’s lots of things to take photos of – the sky for example, you can take a picture of a flower, the grass, the road, a wall, a piece of wood and use that as background texture. Remember, inspiration and beauty is everywhere!

A perfect photo to use has a lot of space for text, so try not to use an overly busy photo. For this tutorial, I am using a photo that I took of the sunset when hiking at Runyon Canyon in Hollywood, CA around dusk.

I am using Adobe Photoshop CC on a Mac. Beginners can follow along.

Tip: always duplicate your photo, and use that duplicate for your project. You never want to overwrite or use the original – then you would’ve lost your awesome photo forever. Sadface.

Step 1: Open up the photo you are going to use and go to File menu > Save As…

This saves your photo as a Photoshop document also known as PSD. PSD is the raw version of your file where you can edit, create your text and layers, etc.

It’s always important to Save (Command S, Windows/Start Key on PC). People tend to overlook this most basic step, especially when you’re in the zone. So always remember to save often if you don’t want to redo all the work that you did.

Tip: if the photo you want to use is on your phone, email the photo to yourself from another email address. From there you can check your email from your computer and download the photo.

Step 2: Resize your file.

You want to resize your file if you’re going to use this for internet / social media use. You don’t want your final file to be too big. Go ahead and go to Image menu > Image Size…

Type 600 as your Width and hit OK.

Step 3: Add some text. Play with the sizes.

Make sure you turn your Background layer in your Layers panel into a layer by double-clicking on it. Now you can add text.

The font I am using is OPTI Cashew Bold, it’s one of my favorite fonts to use.

Step 4: Add more text.

You can stick with one font as long as it’s easy to read. If you need to add a lot of information, then it would probably be a good idea to change the font. Helvetica is always a good choice. In this tutorial, I am sticking to using one font.

So for the most part, we’re actually done here. If you’re satisfied go ahead and go to File menu > Save for Web > use JPEG, High, Quality: 60 for your settings. Make sure you have ‘Optimized’ checked on. You now have a flyer that you can post on Instagram, Facebook, etc.

Step 5 (Bonus): Add a shape behind the text

Maybe the information isn’t standing out enough. Let’s add a shape behind the text ‘WHERE, WHEN & WHAT TO BRING?’…then make the text white.

Reversing the color of things always helps when all the text looks the same.

Click and hold the Custom Shape Tool (Star-looking icon on your toolbar) and click Custom Shape Tool. On your top bar where it says Shape (might be located on your far right), click and hold the little arrow; Photoshop comes with custom shapes that are ready to use for your project. Pick the one called Banner 4 (when you hover your mouse over the shapes, a label for the shape will pop up) and make your shape over the text ‘WHERE’.

Hit Command J to duplicate the shapes and place them over ‘WHEN’ and ‘WHAT TO BRING’. Resize the shape over ‘WHAT TO BRING’ since that one has longer text.

Step 6: Move shapes under your text and make them white or any color you choose.

At this point, your shapes are on top of your text. In your Layers panel, move the shapes under your text and change the color of your text.

Don’t forget to hit Save.

Step 7: Play around and have fun with it!

I did more tweaks to mine, like change the colons to question marks. Added an exclamation mark to ‘City!’ This didn’t take long at all, probably less than 30 minutes…an hour for me because I was creating the flyer AND typing this tutorial up.

Perhaps you need to make a flyer and can’t seem to find that perfect background. Why not make your own? I notice that the time it takes for me to search for a background, could’ve been used as time spent making one. It really doesn’t take that long, if anything you will end up spending more time creating your background because it’s a lot of fun and you will literally get lost in the creating process.

This Photoshop tutorial is aimed towards intermediate users (those who aren’t new to Photoshop and use it regularly), but I think semi-beginners can do this as well. I am on a Mac using Adobe Photoshop CC 2015.

Step 1: Create your file.

Mine is 800×800 pixels, 72 resolution, RGB mode. Perfect to use for Instagram.

Step 2: Change the color of your background.

I picked a gray color (#666666) and hit Option (Alt for PC) and the Delete key. This fills your current white background with the gray or whatever color you choose.

Step 3: Pick another color and make a shape.

Click the U key on your keyboard or go to your Toolbar to click and hold the icon with the circle – a dropdown menu appears to give you other shape options. I am going to keep it simple and do an elipse…a magenta elipse.

I am now going to call it a circle instead of an elipse because it’s just easier to say.

With your circle layer still selected, hit Command (Windows/Start on a PC) Key and J and now you have another circle. Option + Delete Key to fill it with a new color and move it around. I picked a darker magenta.

Step 5: Duplicate your 2 circles and play with the color modes.

This is the fun part, the part where you can get lost and play for a bit because it’s endless. Select both circles in your Layers panel (Shift + Click to select more than one item) and hit Command J again. You should now have 2 other sets of circles, 4 total). Move them around, make them smaller or bigger if you want; deselect and then select one of them and choose Color Dodge in the Blending Modes dropdown menu right above your Layers. The circle “blends” in and now you can see the other circles underneath.

Step 6: Group your circles into a folder

Select your circles by Shift + Clicking on each one until you have all of them selected, then hit Command G to group them. Doing this creates a folder for your circles.

Step 7: Duplicate your folder

Hit Command J again to duplicate that folder you just created. Now you have a 2nd folder full of circles and you can move the entire folder around, maybe even rotate it to create an interesting composition. Play around with this until you are satisfied.

Step 8: You can repeat step 7 or add an Adjustment Layer.

So let’s say you’re satisfied with what you made, but the image you created is still too bright to add text over it. You can add a Levels layer to make it darker or brighter depending on your needs.

In addition to the Levels (which made mine darker), what I also did is create a new layer, and made a gradient over this, hit G on your Toolbar. Hold and drag your mouse over this new layer and it should create a gradient with the 2 colors you have as Foreground & Background. I gave it a Multiply Blending Mode to make it darker. It adds depth to your background and now you can put light colored text over it.

Fear is a strong word and not the word I prefer to use, but merely wanted the title of this post to jump out at you.

I’m sure you are aware of this already – people are posting more videos these days, whether it’s on Snapchat, Periscope, Vine, or YouTube. Do a Google search and you’ll see that YouTube is in the top 5 of the world’s most visited websites.

I feel like I’m one of the very last people on planet Earth to get on board. Why?

I’m not exactly new to video marketing; I’ve posted some videos on behalf of the company I work for. But no real, live people were involved; and I only used my voice, once. It was awkward, at least for me. The videos were mostly made in After Effects with existing photos and audio. I’m still learning how to edit in Premiere.

I’m terrified of the thought of people looking at my face, let alone watching me talk. I know I’m not the only one, right? Plus when you come from a graffiti subculture where your painting skills were more important than your face (NOBODY ever showed their face)…you kinda see why this is a challenge for me, right?

It’s not like I’m hiding or am deliberately antisocial in everyday life…video is just very new territory for me when it comes to myself.

Although for me personally, I’d rather go with the artsy type of video like this one. It just seems like people are starving for content though – like how to videos, tutorials, life hacks, etc. If you are a business owner or just promoting yourself it’s just not enough anymore to have a website or blog, or to just post on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. Video is pretty much already part of the internet landscape. A lot of people don’t even want to read anymore, for fuck’s sake; they’d rather watch a video. I like to do both.

Anyway, so I’m trying to figure out how to leverage using video for my stuff. I guess the main obstacles are:

1) come up with a video that will be of use to others and
2) get over myself and the fear of my face being shown in video :/

The video above was made in After Effects – just playing around with the CC Mercury and Particles plugin. Then I made the movie into a GIF in Photoshop. If you pull the file down, you’ll see that it’s a 10.7 MB file with 353 frames, lol. Your GIFs shouldn’t be that big but I did it anyway. Maybe I’ll make a tutorial soon once I have the steps down…

If you happen to be reading this and have posted videos on YouTube, how do you get over being nervous when it comes to creating videos that feature yourself?

I have an affinity for handpainted lettering and typography – gothic, script, ornamental, etc. Basically the hard-to-read ones that aren’t normally used in advertising – because although they’re lovely to look at, they’re kind of hard to read.

I drew this up a few years ago. I find that when I’m annoyed with something or someone, it tends to fuel some of my artwork on a subconscious level. I don’t even remember who it was in particular, it could’ve been a few random people who I just stumbled upon on internetland. I guess it bugs me when people hella show off or try too hard – they’re either screaming “hey look at me, I’m doing something” or “hey look at me, I post nothing but bullshit…but I want you to think it’s NOT bullshit”. So at the time I made this, that’s what staying relevant meant to me: people who just do useless things in order to remain in the minds of the general public, like celebrities who are famous – you don’t even know what they’re famous for.

Well fast forward to now. Being a jack-of-all-trades in content marketing and design, I’m starting to understand what staying relevant means from this angle:

+ Posting images and using words that you wouldn’t normally say to catch the attention of a potential client or buyer.

+ Being in the customer mindset, thinking like them so you can better predict what they are most likely to buy from you.

+ Paying attention to the latest in technology, social media, pop culture and anything related to it.

Don’t get it twisted, I’m not a fan of the last bullet point. I don’t like having to keep up with any of it, especially anything that’s cool and trendy. But since we’re in a global market now, meaning everyone is either buying or selling something whether it’s their art, music, creative services – we could all stand to stay relevant somehow by learning something new everyday and applying it to ourselves.

Keep your mind open to possibilities and opportunity, no matter what age you are.